Shapoorji and Pallonji Group calls Mistry’s ouster “illegal”, to contest decision

Cyrus Mistry’s tenure at Tata has come to an abrupt end making it the shortest tenure at Tata. Mistry belongs to Shapoorji Pallonji, which is the single largest shareholder in Tata Sons with 18.4 per cent stake. Shapoorji and Pallonji Group, the majority shareholder in the Tata Group, has termed Cyrus Mistry's ouster from Tata Sons as illegal. It said it will contest the move, adding that the decision to remove Mistry was not unanimous. This was confirmed by senior lawyer Mohan Parasaran.

About 66 per cent of the equity capital of Tata Sons is held by philanthropic trusts endowed by members of the Tata family. The largest of these trusts are the Sir Dorabji Tata Trust and the Sir Ratan Tata Trust, which were created by the families of the sons of Jamsetji Tata, the Founder.

Out of the nine board members, 8 members voted. Six voted for Mistry's ouster and two abstained, according to ET Now. The committee will include Ratan Tata, Ronen Sen, Venu Srinivasan, Amit Chandra. The decision has been taken after the board meeting today. There were no reasons given for the change of leadership of the man who was brought in with much fanfare but it is believed that Tata Sons was unhappy with Mistry's approach of shedding non¬profit businesses, including the conglomerate's steel business in Europe, and concentrating only on cash cows. Also Read: Was Tata Sons unhappy with Mistry's approach of focusing only on cash cows? "Tata Sons today announced its board has replaced Mr Cyrus P Mistry as Chairman of Tata Sons. The decision was taken at a board meeting held here today," a Tata Sons statement said